Straight answers before you spend money.

Square footage is only the starting point. The bigger cost drivers are the condition of the surface and how much prep it needs: removing an old coating, grinding a polished or sealed slab, filling cracks and spalls, or rebuilding stair nosings all add labor before any resin gets mixed. After that it is the system (decorative flake and quartz, metallic, or a commercial broadcast build in 1/16 inch single or 1/8 inch double), the number of topcoats, non-slip additives, cove base, logo inlays, and access — a walk-out basement with a tight stairwell is a different job than an open warehouse bay.

Because of that, pricing comes from the on-site walk, not from a phone estimate. You get one written number with the scope attached.

A coating is only as good as its bond to the surface underneath. Concrete that looks clean is usually sealed, polished or contaminated with oil at the top layer, and resin applied over that sits on a skin rather than keying into the slab. Diamond grinding opens the pores so the coating grips mechanically.

Peeling, flaking and bubbling floors are almost always prep failures, not product failures. It is the least visible part of the invoice and the part that decides whether the surface lasts years or months.

With proper prep and a topcoat matched to the traffic, a well-built system is a long-term surface rather than a seasonal refresh — residential garages and basements typically go many years without needing anything but cleaning. Commercial floors under forklifts, hot tires or chemicals wear faster and are usually planned around a recoat of the clear topcoat rather than a full replacement.

Recoating the topcoat while the base is still sound is far cheaper than starting over, which is why we will tell you when a surface is due.

Hot tires soften slightly when you park, and as they cool they shrink and grab at the surface. On a thin, poorly bonded coating — the one-part garage paint sold in buckets is the classic example — that pull is enough to lift the coating in patches under the wheels.

It is prevented by mechanical prep and a properly built, fully cured system, not by a product claim on a label. It is also the main reason vehicles have to stay off a new floor for the full cure window, not just until it feels dry.

Concrete on grade wicks moisture from the ground through its own pores, and if that vapor cannot escape it pushes on the underside of a coating until the bond lets go — that is delamination, and it shows up as blisters and peeling sheets. Basements, older slabs poured without a vapor barrier and anything below grade are the usual suspects.

It is handled rather than hoped about: a moisture check happens before any resin goes down, and every Liquid Gold job gets a moisture vapor barrier epoxy as the first layer, rated to hold back moisture drive that would lift a standard epoxy. On commercial floors that moisture vapor barrier primer is standard on every pour, and it adds chemical resistance on top of holding the moisture down. It is priced into the scope before the quote is finalized, so it is not a surprise change order later.

No. The clear that goes over every system is a polyaspartic topcoat, and polyaspartic is UV stable — it does not amber the way an epoxy clear does once sunlight gets on it. That is the difference between a floor that still looks brand new in year five and one that has gone yellow-brown in the traffic lanes.

It matters in a garage with the door open all summer, and it matters more on an outdoor patio or a set of exterior stairs, which is why the same topcoat chemistry is used inside and out.

Sometimes. If the existing coating is well bonded across the whole floor, it can be abraded and built on. If it is peeling, flaking, hollow-sounding in spots or of unknown chemistry, it comes off — coating over a failing layer just transfers that failure to your new surface.

We check adhesion during the walkthrough and tell you which situation you are in before quoting it.

Yes, and it is one of the more popular jobs. Tile gets deglossed and the grout lines are filled so the finished top reads as one continuous surface; laminate is sanded and sealed. What matters is that the substrate is firmly attached and not flexing — loose tiles or a soft, water-damaged deck have to be repaired first.

General guidance for interior floors: light foot traffic after about a day, and vehicles or heavy rolling loads after several days. Deep-pour bar tops and countertops cure more slowly by design and need longer before service use.

Temperature, humidity and film thickness all move those numbers, so the actual return-to-service times for your job are confirmed on site and written on the estimate.

Yes. A deposit confirms the date on the schedule and covers materials, which are ordered per job in your color and system. The balance follows the terms written on your estimate. Nothing is charged before you have that estimate in hand.

Exterior work needs a dry stretch with moderate temperatures — resin cures by chemical reaction, and cold slows it down while rain or heavy dew during the window can ruin the finish outright. Late spring through early fall is the reliable season in Illinois.

We schedule exterior jobs against the forecast and will move your date rather than pour into bad weather. That is a feature, not a delay.

Yes. Every system finishes in the sheen you pick — gloss for depth and reflection, matte for a flatter, lower-glare surface — and each one can be poured with or without texture.

Foot traffic drives the decision more than looks do. A showroom or a bar top usually wants gloss; a busy shop floor or a stair tread usually wants texture and a lower sheen. Residential and commercial spaces get read differently for the same reason, so tell us how the room gets used and we will show you the combination that holds up.

A high-gloss clear coat is slick when wet, which is fine for a bar top and wrong for a shower-adjacent floor or an exterior stair. Traction is tuned deliberately: flake and quartz broadcasts add texture on their own, and non-slip additives can be built into the topcoat at the sheen you want.

Tell us how the space gets used — wet, greasy, barefoot, forklift — and the topcoat gets specified around it.

Dust mop or blow it off, then damp mop with a pH-neutral cleaner. Skip anything acidic, skip citrus degreasers on a fresh floor, and do not use steel wool or abrasive pads on gloss. Wipe up chemical spills — brake fluid, strong solvents, battery acid — rather than letting them sit.

For garages, a walk-off mat where the tires land and prompt cleanup of road salt in winter does most of the work.

Flake blends and solid colors are chosen from real samples and repeat reliably, so those can be matched closely. Metallic is different: the pattern is created by hand while the resin is still open and cannot be reproduced exactly, even by the person who poured the original.

Bring the reference anyway — it tells us the palette, contrast and depth you are after, and we will tell you honestly how close the result can get.

Warranty terms are stated on the written estimate for your job, since they depend on the system installed, the condition of the substrate and how the surface will be used. Ask about them during the walkthrough and they will be in writing before you pay a deposit.